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It had been a couple of weeks at this point since the defeat of Yadogar, and Touma hated to admit that his mind would still occasionally be drawn back to the idea that Kairi did not consider the Jurer his home. Perhaps it was out of surprise, given how easily he and Umika had seemed to accept the place as their home. Of course, Touma would consider anywhere Aya was as his home, but as she wasn’t there with him anymore, there was simply nowhere else he could consider home but the Bistrot Jurer. And logically, Kairi not considering the Jurer his home had been an advantage to them, he was able to be in the frontlines while he and Umika were forced to carry around tents as makeshift ‘homes’. But despite all efforts to only consider Kairi and Umika as a means to an end, they had fallen into a rhythm together, a steady and comfortable one.
After all, it was hard not to feel even a slight comfort on those nights after a long battle, when all of them are tired and ready to collapse, but still holding their heads up as they cleaned up the Jurer and prepared for the next day, and when even Kairi was too tired to try and worm his way out of doing work. He would quietly do all his assigned chores, barely arguing with Umika when they bumped into each other in their tired haze. Then the quiet goodnights they gave each other before they finally collapsed onto their beds for a few precious hours of sleep before they had to get up early and prepare for the ‘normal’ days. Because as exciting and as nerve-wracking as the gangler fights were, the fact of the matter was they spent far more ‘normal’ days with each other than they did battle days.
It was one of those normal mornings, after the battle with Yadogar that Touma almost hesitated outside of Kairi’s door, deep in thought once again. At that point, Kairi had returned mostly to ‘normal’ that any unassuming outsider would recognize. Though in reality Touma knew it was only the mask of normalcy that Kairi had. Whenever the global police were there, he could still see the cracks on Kairi’s mask where his expression would run cold at the sight of the red patranger. He hadn’t truly gotten over what happened, and Touma knew there was no use to pry, or else he’d be shut out the same way Asaka was.
So he straightened himself up, and gave Kairi’s door three short knocks. “Kairi, it’s time to get ready.”
After a few seconds he could hear a groan in frustration behind the door. “Isn’t it Umika’s turn?”
“She’s helped me for the past 3 days, it’s time for you to help.”
He heard what he assumed were several expletives muffled by the door, and he went ahead to the kitchen where he was soon joined by a bleary-eyed Kairi, who’s hair was still standing on end.
Touma had learned very early on that this was a prime time to get Kairi to do anything, as he was not only still too out of it to try and run, but it was so early in the morning that nothing was really open yet anyways. So Touma was quick to set Kairi to begin prepping the vegetables and other simple tasks around the kitchen while Touma personally handled the more complicated tasks like preparing the croissants. Maybe one day he’d trust Kairi and Umika with more difficult things without having to worry about them burning down the place, he thought with a chuckle, before frowning slightly. ‘One day’ as though in the future they would still be working there together. If their plans with the Lupin Collection succeed, then surely they would all go their separate ways. Touma almost felt a small twinge in his heart at the thought, but he shook the thoughts out of his mind and continued working.
Kairi finished his work as quickly as he could, and Touma could already tell by the glances Kairi kept sending the door that he was already itching to run out.
“Kairi, can you help me roll out the butter? We’ll need make more croissants for tomorrow and we need to get a headstart to make the dough this evening.”
Kairi let out a loud, clearly exaggerated sigh. “ Umika will probably wake up soon, she can help.”
One pointed glance from Touma, and Kairi actually returned to his spot in the kitchen, grabbing wax paper and a rolling pin. Maybe he realized that it was still too early for him to go anywhere.
“While you’re doing that, do you want anything for breakfast?”
It wasn’t an out of the ordinary offer for Touma to make. After all, he wasn’t about to let either Kairi or Umika go hungry, that would make them more likely to collapse in the middle of battle, and that would be a liability. Though admittedly, it was usually only Umika who would quickly take him up on his offer, begging for chocolate croissants, pancakes, crepes, or anything sweet she could think of. Kairi tended to pass on it, as he usually didn’t eat much in the mornings. If he did accept, it was usually absolutely bare minimum, like popcorn or some cut up fruit. Yet Touma still offered, on the off chance he’d accept.
Kairi was quiet for a moment, pausing his rolling. “....Tamagoyaki. And rice.”
Touma blinked in surprise. Sure, it wasn’t really a complicated dish to make (though it had been awhile since he’d made it) but it was definitely the first request Kairi gave him that required actual cooking.
“Not in the mood for western food I see.”
Kairi shrugged. “I guess I haven’t eaten it in awhile. Haven’t had it since I left school…” He trailed off.
Touma, as usual, didn’t press it. Instead, he turned away and began searching for his rectangular pan to get started.
By the time he had found it, Kairi had already wandered off into the dining area, and was currently sitting at one of the tables with his eyes glued to his phone. Touma could hear sounds of movement above them, Umika was finally awake and getting ready.
When Touma was finished cooking, Umika had arrived. She looked at the plates at the counter and clapped her hands. “Tamagoyaki! I haven’t had that in ages! Can I make some tako sausages to go with it Touma?” Without even waiting for his response, she had already run into the kitchen to pull out the sausages from the fridge to cut up, knowing that Touma would let her anyways.
Touma set a plate in front of Kair, who set down his phone and stared at it.
“Lost your appetite already?”
“No.” Kairi mumbled, picking up his chopsticks and shoving some rice into his mouth.
They were mostly silent as they ate, Umika smiling proudly at her tako sausages and offering some to Kairi and Touma (Touma declined politely, and Kairi declined initially before ultimately stealing one off of Umika’s plate when she wasn’t looking). Kairi continued his silence as Touma began cleaning up the plates. It wasn’t until Touma had begun washing the dishes and Umika had already left to go grocery shopping did Touma hear a small, almost unnoticeable sigh of contentment from Kairi that he would have missed completely had he not stopped scrubbing the pan in his hands at the right moment.
“Thank you for the food!” Kairi called out to him, as he finally made his great escape towards freedom.
“Don’t forget to comeback for the morning rush!” Touma called out after him.
“Whatever!”
And then, Touma was alone.
He looked around the empty bistro, still wondering at what point he had accepted this as his current home. He closed his eyes, and tried to imagine a future with himself and Aya, after she’s finally brought back. But no matter how hard he tried, Kairi and Umika would both pop in out of nowhere, bothering him, complaining about having to cook, clean, anything. If there’s one thing he was certain of, he was sure that Aya would love them. He wondered if they’d meet her, when that day came.
He thought about Kairi again, and that one tiny little moment where he knew Kairi had at least felt a bit of contentment. He knew that one plate of tamagoyaki wasn’t enough to make Kairi consider this place his home. But it was better than nothing. And against Touma’s better judgement, maybe he’d cook more Japanese food for him. That would be enough, at least for now.